Sergei Grachev graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Theatre,
Music and Cinematography. He began his artistic career
at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1991 as a set builder, later
becoming a technical designer, and at present he is head of
the artistic production department. As a designer, he has been
involved in the creation of a new stage version of the opera
Rigoletto (2007). He has designed the ballet Like an Old
Organ Grinder to music by Leonid Desyatnikov (2007), the one-act
operas after works by Gogol The Marriage and How Ivan Ivanovich
Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovich (2009) and the opera May Night
(2009).